What I made, by Sharon

I'm going to count my weekend from Friday, even though I was working on Friday. I finished Elise's cardigan and took photos:  She's overseas right now, so we'll have to wait a couple of weeks to take modelled photos. Friday night we were at my parents for dinner with the whole family and, as usual, I failed to take any pictures.  Saturday morning Leon and I ran 18 kilometres down the beach. The weather was a little miserable, but I don't think I've ever been quite so happy on a long run! Then I went to Pole where I graded! This means that I am now in intermediate and will be learning some more complicated tricks. Fun! Saturday evening I went out to dinner with Skip, Bee and Megan and then to Leon's choir concert at the Malthouse. Sunday morning was relaxing around the house and doing the cleaning, before heading off to a gin festival. This was a lot of fun. Many gins were tried and some bottles were purchased. It did wipe me out for the rest of the day, and

I'm reading  Empire of the Damned by Jay Kristoff.  It's the second in the series, and it's a very dark take on vampires. I loved the first book, which I read when it came out in 2021. I remember sitting in the park that spring, when it was just (probably) legal to sit in parks. And now it's spring 3 years later and I'm loving this dark action adventure. The third one doesn't have a release date yet, and I really do have to stop starting series that are not finished yet! Empire of the Damned is 700 pages long, it's been a while since I read a book that I could really get my teeth into (pun intended). Next up is  And Then It Was September  by Wendy Day. I got it through NetGalley, but it's also free on Amazon and through Kindle Unlimited. I mainly requested it for the cover, although this is the tagline:  A missing necklace, a backpack full of photos, and two women trying to outrun their families' expectations. It sounds like a good read. In audio, l

Remember when it felt like everyone was knitting the same things? I guess there were fewer good patterns around, or maybe my knitting group was just more united. Monkey by Cookie A, and Clapotis from Knitty leap to mind. For whatever reason, a couple of weeks ago I decided to -put Monkey socks on my sOctober knitting list. On Wednesday Kat mentioned she was knitting them, and the comments reflect some fondness for that time.  The pair of Monkeys I made in 2010 My knitting group would go through waves of all buying the same yarn - Collintette Jitterbug (and it's dramas)  and Wollmeise leap to mind. Wollmeise used to do their updates at midnight on Fridays and I would drink red wine and press refresh.  I came to blogging just as it peaked, in January 2011 and I'm still here, tapping away. I accidentally quit Instagram a couple of months ago, and I don't really miss it - all those moving pictures. I do miss the lifestyle bloggers who became Instragramers, and who are mostly

  Welcome to part 16 in a series of non-fiction book reviews, originally based on the idea that the books I request tell you everything you need to know about me.  I have, after so many chapters of this series, realised that all these posts say about me is that have eclectic taste and endless curiosity. This time I am finding calm, exploring Wes Anderson and playing chanukah games for kids. Eclectic indeed! All books are kindly provided as e-Arcs through NetGalley in exchange for honest reviews. Calm in 40 Images : The Art of finding Serenity   The School of Life (releases10 December 2024) Returning readers will be aware that I love a book about finding peace, or calm, or tranquility. I meditate and try to live in the moment and mindfully and all that. This book appealed to me for the title, and the front cover image. The description states this is:  A psychological guidebook that can help to quieten our worries and bring on a new mood of serenity and ease.  Knowing how to be calm is o

The books have been all NetGalley for this week. I finished    The Red House Mystery  by A.A. Milne , which made me realise that I just don't really like golden age of mystery books much. It did take me 10 novels to realise that. I guess I'm a slow learner! Then I read  Frankie  by Graham Norton.   It's a very wholesome story of Frankie, who is 80 a telling her life story to her carer, in flashbacks. It's very character driven, and I'm enjoying it immensely. I hadn't read any Graham Norton (and until I just looked him up I think I was confusing him with Julian Clarey, oops) and it's a really well written, immersive story. I know I said last week that this was my last review book for the month, but NetGalley was offering the Amazon Original  Natural Selection: A Short Story by Elin Hilderbrand , so that's up next. I'm also listening to a NetGalley book -  Rachel Weiss's Group Chat by Lauren Appelbaum . It's the story of the eponymous Rachel We

On Friday after work we headed up to Bendigo for Bendigo on the hop, a beer festival we have been to (I think) three times before. This year it was just me and Leon, so we took ourselves out for a fancy dinner before going to bed early. We knew Saturday was going to be a big day. On Saturday morning we got up (always a good start!) and ran 15 kms. We didn't realise that the canal path doesn't actually go far enough for that distance, so we got to do a lap of the lake on the way back.  Then we cleaned up and got some breakfast and headed to the woollen mill. Last week Kate Davies released a cardigan pattern and I had that in mind when I was shopping. I got this stunning yarn - it's a dark teal and had a strand of shiny, although it's not sparkle yarn. I got the "recycled fibre" wool as the contrast colour. I suspect it's made of the scraps from the mill floor, and I really like it.   I also picked up a kilogram of fibre from the backroom, because it was c